Mohave County miner., 1887-02-05
A RECENT BALLOON TRIP.

sore Valuable Discoveries which Are
! Cisi'ned--DropptnG bombs ON Ship.
/ According 10 foreign papers, which
{ give detailed account OF it. the balloon
trip made few weeks ago from Cher
bourg. France. to Tottspham, near Ion
don. Eng'and. WIS not as great sue
cess as the dispatches Indicated Il 20 be.
II. Z. LHoste, a professional aeronant,
and VI. Joseph Mangos, a young astrono-
mcr. left the coast OF France ia ti,c bal
loon Tt.pntur" at Ii O'Clock at night,
passed across fha English channel and
over the islc Il Wight, and arrived in
the vicinity Of Lon,lon at about the
next morning. The journey could have
been made quite as quickly by boat o.
cars. ]. was tho intention OF the ba.-
loonists + make their descent In mill
tary park in the city, but they were mot
able To do 81. As their COMING was
anticipated, thousands were on the look.
ont for them. They were warmly wei
coined, and werc given o cordial s~oep-
ton by the members OF ths British
Assonsutical society. The occupants Of
u balloon stated that they met with no
sscident on the trip, which was pleosur.
sble and highly instructive. Thsy ad-
mittcd that they derived scarcely any
benefit from their steering and peopel-
ling apparatus. They claimed, however.
to have derived very great advantage
from new system OF using ballase.
They employed an apparatus eallsd .
hsfteur, which IL suspended from tho
basket of the balloons, drags in tho
water, and enables the aerial travslers
to take in and let ont water ballast when
ever they choose 10 do 30.
In all previous attempts TO manage
balloons there wns no way % make them
descend or to keep them nssr the sur
face OF the earth except 10 cp6h the
valve and allow part Of the confined gas
10 escape. 1t often happens that this
gas is wanted before the trip h com
plcted. SO. too, therc was no way 10
mako tho balloon nscend except 10
throw cut ballast, which usually consists
u bags Of sand. by the use of ths ap-
partus employed by these Frcnchmsn all
the gas, except wha: escapes through
the cloth, Is kept till the end OF the trip.
In making a voyage requiring q day and
night, the tendency OF the balloon 10 70
sink after sunset and 10 rise after the
sun has made It's appearance. II ths
voyage IL inade over water the appar
ratus employed by these Frenchmsn win
keep the balloon as near the surface ~
Is desired all the time. Unfortunately,
however, the apparatus can not b used
while passing over land.
These balloonists think they mads
another valuable discovery. In passing
over several vessels they Let drop sons
small torpedoes. which exploded on their
decks. They accordingly claim that
balloons may DO made very useful ia
war by enabling peSons to drop torps-
does, bombs, and various explosive In
ytrumsntx on vessels, In fortiflcatioas
and on buildings in towns They claim
by dropping heavy bomb the balloon
would bs given such an impulse upward
that the occupants would be beyond tho
reach of bullets before tbs persons below
would have time to fire. In case the
vessel was demolished by the explosion
Of a bomb, there would be no one left to
discharge firearms.
II Is scarcely likely, however, that
balloons will ever be used for tho pur-
pose suggested. Only highly civilized
nations could employ balloons In ware
fare. Among such nations civilization
extends to the arts OF war as well - to
hose OF peace. The people who would
irop torpedoes from an elevation on ves-
'els and unfortiied towns would be likely
70 be classed with those who fire explo-
i've bullets and make use OF noxio,n
gases and virulent p,isons. They would
De given place among the enemies Of
he human race, aad treated as SUCH
Chicago Times. -